Is the Joint Strike Fighter really in QDR trouble, or is talk of major cuts some kind of evil Pentagon negotiating ploy? These days, you can get arguments for either position. One straw in the wind, however, is a recent interview given by Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program manager. He confirmed in a Fort Worth Star-Telegram story his concern about a possible DOD “agenda” to scrap one of the three F-35 variants. He added that he didn’t know what was going to happen in the end. Sounds ominous to us.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.